Clear-method swing-chart construction

What a swing-chart records

A swing-chart is a stepwise price map that updates from successive highs and lows rather than from every print, so the visible structure is the sequence of swing turns instead of the raw bar series.

Construction is the rule set that decides, bar by bar, whether the current swing high or low is extended or whether the reference flips to the opposite extreme. The clear-method is a swing-construction recipe that seeds an initial high or low, then extends that extreme while momentum agrees and switches the reference when price fails a short lookback of the opposite extreme.

Seed the working level

The swing-construction formula first waits until the eleventh bar, then seeds the working level at that bar's high if the high is above the prior high, otherwise at that bar's low.

That wait fills a lookback-window: the fixed count of recent bars used to test whether the latest high sits at or below the highest low, or the latest low sits at or above the lowest high.

Extend the working level

While the working level is at or above the prior high and the one-bar high rate of change is positive, the construction replaces the working level with the greater of the current high and the previous working level.

While the working level is at or below the prior low and the one-bar low rate of change is negative, the construction replaces the working level with the lesser of the current low and the previous working level.

Flip the reference

If the working level is still at or above the prior high but the current high is at or below the highest low of the last ten bars, the construction flips the working level to the current low.

If the working level is still at or below the prior low but the current low is at or above the lowest high of the last ten bars, the construction flips the working level to the current high.

Record swing-state in a later correction

A later correction of the same formula changes the first line and adds two trailing lines that set a swing-direction flag from whether the working level equals the high or the low, then output the ten-bar highest low in an upswing and the ten-bar lowest high in a downswing.

Swing-state is that binary flag: it records whether the construction is currently tracking an upward or a downward swing so the next reference level can be chosen without rereading the whole series.

Editorial: state the next confirm or kill in advance

Editorial: while the working level is at or above the prior high and the one-bar high rate of change is positive, the open hypothesis is that the upswing is still in force. The next confirm is a current high greater than the previous working level, which replaces that level. The kill is a current high at or below the highest low of the last ten bars, which flips the working level to the current low.

Editorial: while the working level is at or below the prior low and the one-bar low rate of change is negative, the open hypothesis is that the downswing is still in force. The next confirm is a current low lesser than the previous working level, which replaces that level. The kill is a current low at or above the lowest high of the last ten bars, which flips the working level to the current high.